Govt introducing electronic system to manage budget and accounts

Kathmandu, Oct. 7: The government is all set to implement a new electronic system for the local units to manage their budget and account.

The new electronic system, designed for both online and offline work, is developed by the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) secretariat under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and in coordination with the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) and Financial Comptroller General’s Office (FCGO).

The PEFA said that the new system would roll out within a week.

Murari Niraula, member secretary of the PEFA secretariat, said that the new system would facilitate the local bodies as well as the line ministries and other concerned government agencies in handling the budget and account.

“As the system works offline, too, occasional lack of electricity or internet connection in municipality and rural municipality offices will not be much of a problem,” he said.

The system will create uniformity in the handling of the budget and account while helping the government, ministries as well as the FCGO and the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) with their work.

Developed by a Nepali consultant, the work on the electronic budget and account management system was initiated by the MoF.

Although the MoF was planning to implement the system a couple of weeks ago, it was delayed as the MoFALD showed its unwillingness to own it.

According to the PEFA, the MoFALD wanted to implement the Municipal Revenue Information System, as used by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office, and hence, the implementation of the new system was postponed.

The PEFA secretariat has implemented the online Revenue Management Information System across the country from July 16 this year.

After the implementation of the new RMIS, the revenue data will be updated in real time except for the rural areas where bank and financial institutions are not present.

“In those areas, the accountants of the District Treasury Controller Office will update the information within a week,” said Niraula.

The PEFA secretariat was created to facilitate public financial management (PFM) activities of the government and monitor the progress of PEFA and PFM policies, plans and programmes of the government over a specified period of time.

It provides technical assistance and long-term support to line ministries and departments to implement PFM activities, and gathers information on progress from line ministries and local government on progress in meeting programme outcomes.